Dakota, Illinois Weather
Dakota, Illinois — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, radar and satellite imagery for Dakota, Stephenson County.
Full aviation weather for Dakota is published on the Freeport/Dornink Airport (KC86) page, 3 km away. It carries the current METAR decoded into plain language — surface wind, visibility, cloud layers and ceiling, temperature and dewpoint, and altimeter setting — alongside the raw observation as transmitted. 6 airfields within reach of Dakota have their own pages, listed below.
The Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) is shown across its full validity period, with each change group broken out so you can see when conditions are expected to shift. Flight category is derived automatically — VFR, MVFR, IFR or LIFR — from reported ceiling and visibility, with runway details and field elevation alongside. Observations update roughly hourly and forecasts several times a day.
Other airports near Dakota: Albertus Airport (KFEP) 16 km · Monroe Municipal Airport (KEFT) 26 km · Brodhead Airport (KC37) 26 km · Albany Airport (K54W) 38 km · Ogle County Airport (KC55) 41 km
Conditions reported at KC86 describe the airfield itself. Weather 3 km away can differ, particularly in terrain or near the coast. For conditions at Dakota specifically, see the current conditions and forecast above.
About Dakota, Illinois
Dakota lies under a wide Illinois sky, a place where the land itself seems to hold its breath, a gentle swell of fields giving way to the subtle rise and fall of the terrain. It lies 17.3 miles south-south-east of Green, WI (from Green, WI: bearing 163°T), and is situated 8.0 miles north-east of Freeport. The air here carries the scent of turned earth and the distant hum of tractors, a constant, low thrumming that underscores the quietude. Sunlight, when it breaks through the clouds, falls in broad, clean swaths across the landscape, illuminating the rich, dark loam that defines this part of Stephenson County. The horizon is a clean, unbroken line, punctuated only by the occasional silhouette of a silo or the sturdy frame of a barn, each a sentinel against the vastness. The history of Dakota is bound to the fertile soil and the westward push of settlement, its early days shaped by the agricultural ambitions of those who first claimed this prairie ground. The local economy continues to be rooted in the bounty of the land, with farming remaining a steadfast pillar, its rhythms dictating the pulse of daily life. While the railway once brought greater commerce, the quiet persistence of the community endures, a testament to the enduring appeal of a life lived in closer proximity to the seasons. The character of Dakota is one of understated resilience, a place where the past is not a grand monument but a quiet undercurrent, felt in the weathered wood of old buildings and the ingrained knowledge of the earth.
Live animated radar for Dakota and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | Dakota, Stephenson County, Illinois |
| Coordinates | 42.388627°N, 89.526227°W |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 61018 |
| Area Code | 847, 224 |
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
About This Dakota, Illinois Weather Page
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for Dakota, Illinois, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Aviation weather — live METAR observations and TAF forecasts — is published separately on the pages for the nearest reporting airports, linked from the aviation section above. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for Dakota includes coordinates 42.388627°N, 89.526227°W, situated in Stephenson County. ZIP code 61018. Telephone area code: 847, 224. Timezone: Central Time (America/Chicago).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.
